While free bus services to and from Vail Mountain and the Beav’ qualifies as a luxury for most locals, there’s always an option for those looking for—and lucky enough to afford—a more dignified way to get from Point A to Point B.

Skiers and snowboarders flock to East Vail’s lift-accessible backcountry terrain in part because it’s unpatrolled and unregulated, but in the name of public safety, should—and can—anyone limit the risks people take on these avalanche-prone steeps?